The Last Cinderella
by Iseria Dweller
Summary: An evil Matriarch who is hell bent on world domination, a daughter who is trying to be just like her mother to the point of obsession, a naive lovesick marquis, the Sykes being forced into slavery and oh my! The fairy god FATHER!


Once upon a time, there lived two young siblings in an orphanage. Their names were Irina and Rush. No one really knew if they were really really related by blood since the older of the two, Rush, carried a strong sister complex which was far beyond normal. Some say it was some kind of incestuous thought corrupting Rush's mind. Other say that it was just a stage of growing up since the two siblings went through heaps of harsh times.

Irina and Rush knew each other since they were in diapers and from the moment they learned how to talk and walk and all that jazz, they knew that they could only rely on each other.

That's because everyone in the orphanage kinda shunned them away since more then often, they both act like long lost lovers.

One day, Rush got adopted by a loving couple known as Marina and John Sykes. For some odd reasons, they only wanted a son and not a daughter, so Irina was left to herself in the orphanage.

"Soon!" Rush promised as he was dragged away by the two scientists. "Soon Irina, I will come and save you! When I'm old enough! I promise!!"

Rush was only 11 years old then.

Life for Rush in Eulam, together with the Sykes, was peaceful. Still, Rush couldn't shake the feeling of loneliness whenever he saw his fellow friends play tag in the forest with their siblings.

To make things worse, Rush was always left alone since Marina and John are always busy in the academy in Elysion.

This went on until he was 18.

On his dreadful 18th birthday, Rush was far out in the woods to collect some beautiful war daisies to send to Marina Sykes as a mother's day gift when he heard something odd.

It sounded like an army of men and beasts alike, marching in the distance.

Curiosity got the worse of him as walked towards the clearing.

To his surprise, there really was an army of men and other creatures! In fact, there were TWO such armies!

He couldn't identify which city or country the army on his left hand side came from but he saw that the army on his right hand side carried a huge cannon like weapon. For a moment, he panicked.

What if they were planning on destroying Eulam!?!?

What if they were going to take over Eulam?!!?

The possibilities were endless there.

Just then, he saw a ponytailed female strutting amongst the soldiers of that cannon wielding army.

Till today, no one knew what possessed and convinced Rush's brain that the said figure was his sister, Irina.

Rush raced forward stupidly and dived towards the battlefield, screaming for Irina. The woman was extremely alarmed when a village boy just dove into their flank and raced up towards her.

Chaos then consumed their flanks as the army attempted to stop the cannon like thing (which Rush learned, was called the Gae Bolg) from firing as one of their ranks were far too close to the weapon.

Everything happened so fast, the next thing Rush heard was a deafening blast and a bright flash of white as the weapon was being fired.

Silence and darkness consumed him. For a moment, he was sure that he was done for........until he heard a heavily accented voice.

"You low class whelp!" The woman, whom he thought was Irina, spoke up from beside him. "You interrupted me when I was out there in combat and you don't even have the heart to shield me with those weird powers of yours?!"

Rush opened his eyes and found that he was being protected by a bubble-like shield which protected him from the Gae Bolg's blast.

The woman however (whom Rush decided was really far too old but quite handsome in a way) wasn't.

"Well, seeing that you have lived through that blast, I see no reason why you should be so bitchy! Besides, I didn't even know I was that awesome and powerful as to be able to produce a magical shield of that sort!" Rush said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Child, do you think I'm senile!?" The woman barked.

Now, Rush Sykes wasn't a liar. Telling lies was very bad to others so it wasn't a surprising thing when he answered "Yes" to the woman's question.

By now, there was nothing left of the other army and this woman's side had won the fight.

Upon hearing Rush's bold (and perhaps stupidest) answer, everyone backed away.

"Now, now, Emma," A raven colored sovani attempted to calm the senile (in Rush's opinion) down. "He is only just a boy, who was uh....."

"Wandering around the battlefield for no reason at all?" Blocter supplied helpfully.

Rush stood up and looked at the woman, who was named Emma, in the eye. "Look old lady, I've honestly no idea what are you getting so worked up over but I was just looking for my sister!"

Had he excluded the word 'old lady', Rush probably would be out there on his own merry way, looking for his dear sweet sister.

However, Rush being Rush and just having to STATE the obvious fact, ended up having his lights punched out by Emma of the Great Honeywell Clan.

When Rush woke up some hours later, he was pretty sure that Emma had dumped his body somewhere nasty but he was surprised when he found himself in a cozy little room, on the floor.

"Ok, maybe that old girl isn't really that nasty." Rush concluded.

"You should really stop calling her that, it'll get you no where but six foot down under." A voice reprimanded him.

Turning around, he saw the very face of the person he had longed for since he was 11 years old.

Irina.

"IRINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Rush screamed and ran towards his sister.

Irina was surprised but none the less, welcomed his embrace.

"Oh Rush! I can't really believe it's really you!" Irina sobbed onto his chest.

"It's really me alright!" Rush proudly announced. "Say, were you adopted by that old lady?"

At the mention of this, Irina burst into tears even further.

"I was! But I wasn't adopted as a daughter! I'm her family's personal maid!" Irina cried. "And so are you!"

Rush was stunned by this answer. Ok so there were pros and cons to this employment which he had NEVER agreed on.

The pros - He found Irina and she's safe, not somewhere out there begging for food at the steps of the Elysion temple.

The cons - He was stuck with this senile old lady. And the old lady wasn't going to pay him for the labors he would be doing either.

"So tell me about this old lady's family?" Rush was curious.

And so, Irina told him all about the Honeywell clan and how weird Emma's daughter is.

Just then, Emma slammed the door to the cozy room, opened. Rush who was leaning against the door, kneeled over in pain.

"What are you both doing in here!? Chit chatting?!" Emma was furious. "Get back to work!"

Rush was even more furious. Placing a hand on Irina's waist, he pulled her back and glared at the senile general.

"Wait a minute woman," Rush pushed Irina behind him. "Just what the heck do you think you're doing!? I mean I appreciate that you helped me find my sister but I didn't agree to be your maid damnit!"

Silence consumed the room for a minute or two before Emma exploded about how ungrateful Rush was.

After several broken furnitures and several broken ribs on Rush, Rush decided that no matter how hard he tried to beat or convince Emma, she just wouldn't listen to him (Rush suspected that she had quite a hearing disability since the Gae Bolg was quite loud....)

Rush admitted defeat and silently swore in his heart that he would escape with his sister one day.

For now, he would just have to tolerate Emma's bullshit.

Now, Emma Honeywell wasn't really what you call the dumbest woman ever. She was in fact, an evil, evil evil evil manipulative bitch who even have the Marquis of Athlum secretly by a leash and she knew that there are two factions of people in Athlum - one who wanted her six feet down under and one who wanted her in bed.

Rush belonged to the first group whilst Irina seem to belong to the second group since she always defends Emma whenever Rush was about to do something epic like, put laxatives in her soup.

Emma knew that Rush wanted to escape.....and she wasn't going to let that happen.

The Matriarch of the Honeywell clan would make the two teenagers cook, clean, sew, scrub the carpets, and take Toffee (the Honeywell Manor's resident maine coon cat whom according to Rush, weighed like a Yama) out to walks out in the garden, tend to the trees........

There were so many things to do and by the end of the day, Irina would always be exhausted after seeing her mistress off to bed.

Rush had always wondered why did it always take Irina 3 hours to send that senile old lady to bed and the thoughts of what they could be doing upstairs always gave his hormones a run for their money, so he decided that Irina probably had to read that old bitch a bed time story or so.

Although he had no idea that it was actually the other way round. The bedtime story, we mean.

Rush didn't have a bed, he would always sleep near the fireplace where the ashes lay. His visitors would only consist of various rats and lizards.

He had attempted to befriend Toffee a long time ago but the stuck up ball of walking fur would only yield to Irina and Emma.

Seasons passed and spring turned into autumn. Leaves began to wither and the Marquis finally reached his 19th birthday, the rightful age in which he had to find a bride and produce a heir or Athlum would fail to be ruled by the noble Nassau family line.

Emma was hoping that her dear daughter would be that said bride as she considered the Honeywell blood the most noblest of all blood. In fact, she had secretly planned to usurp the Nassau family line from the seat of power and if the gullible marquis took the bait and choose Emma's daughter's hand in marriage, Emma was one step closer to seeing the Honeywell line ruling completely over Athlum.

Unfortunately for Emma, Emmy Honeywell the second had no intentions of wanting to breed with David Nassau for the sake of world domination.

In fact, the only goal Emmy had was to be just like her mother.

And when we do mean "be just like her mother", its not just like any other goal every child looks up to when they see how awesome their parents were.

No. Emmy's goal was to be JUST LIKE HER MOTHER (yeh we're repeating the point here, just so that you can get the point here).

She dressed like her mother, she copied her mother's style of combat in the battlefield, she would say the very same quotes her mother would say, she would have tea the very same way Emma would love her tea (sugarless and strong, for the bitter heart) even though Emmy was more of a sugar monster.

So here she sat, by the café, attempting to stomach the strong, sugarless earl grey brew she had bought.

There was a jar of sugar beside the tea cup and she could dump some of that sugar in-

NONONONO! Emmy was Emma Honeywell the second and her mother doesn't like sugar in her tea! Emmy couldn't possibly hold a light to the candle of her mother if she kept on thinking about herself!

Just then, someone approached her.

"Hey! Old lady! I got the cat food the walking furball likes!"

Emmy seethed.

Sure, she wanted to be like her mother but damnit, she's NOT old!

"Old lady!?" Emmy turned around in her seat and pointed her teaspoon threateningly at the tall, black haired boy. "How dare you call me old!"

Rush backed away, he was sure that this Emma clone was about to spoon his eyes out and use it in place of sugar for her morning tea.

"W..w….wwait I'm sorry! I'm just uh I just thought that you're uh someone!" Rush stammered.

"Someone?" Emmy cornered him against a wall. "Like?"

"Uh um……." Rush was in hot soup by then.

Just then, Rush saw the REAL old lady approaching him. The logical side of his brain kicked into action as he realized that the weird girl cornering him, looked JUST like Emma, except for her shorter hair, higher pitched voice, shorter skirt and she wore no leggings with her Athlumnian general's uniform.

"What in the name of the God Emperor are you doing to my daughter?!" Emma demanded, a hand reaching out for one of her swords.

"Lady! Its more like WHAT is your DAUGHTER doing to me!! She cornered me!" Rush protested.

"Liar!"

Rush then discovered how much he had grown to hate the name, Emma Honeywell the second.

The poor boy went home with cuts and bruises but Emmy was amazed at how the boy stood up against her mommy dearest.

No one in her whole entire 20 something years of existence had ever gotten enough balls to stand up and fight back against Emma Honeywell the first.

Feeling that it was all her fault (which really was in the very first place), Emmy secretly snuck downstairs into the kitchens that evening, and gave Rush a chocolate bar, a strange dessert that Emmy was addicted to.

The very next day, Irina was taking Toffee out for his morning stroll (more like Irina was doing it since Toffee wouldn't MOVE from his basket and had done a cute stunt so that Irina would carry his fat self around the whole entire garden instead of being dragged around by a leash) when a messenger approached the front gates of the manor.

"A letter from the marquis." The messenger announced.

Irina took the letter. "Is it urgent? The mistress of this manor is still sound asleep, I fear."

"No, it's not that urgent." The messenger replied. "It's simply an invitation to the ball Lord David will be hosting tomorrow night. I heard that he will be picking his bride during the dance."

The wheels in Irina's head began to spin as she began to daydream being Athlum's co-ruler.

Rush thought that Irina had simply lost it when Irina begged Emma to allow her to attend the ball.

Naturally, Emma turned the begging down and had refused to eat any food served by Irina for fear of being secretly drugged. On top of that, Emma had kept all of the finest clothes hidden in the Athlum castle so that Irina had nothing fancy to wear.

Emmy on the other hand, had begged her mother to NOT let her go to the ball and stated that she wasn't one bit interested in trying to procreate with the marquis. Her pleadings fell upon deaf ears.

Emma however, allowed Rush to accompany Emmy as a personal butler just so that Emmy could shut up with her whining.

On the night of the ball, the Honeywell manor was in complete chaos. Emmy was fighting tooth and nail with her mother who had unhappily shoved her into a puffy midnight blue gown, Rush was torn between feeling happy that he was able to attend the ball (all the great food he could eat there!) and feeling miserable that Irina had to stay at home.

"We won't be gone for long." Rush hugged his sister.

"…..Take your time. I'll be fine." Irina muttered, not responding to her brother's huggles.

She didn't even bother to wave goodbye as the carriage pulled away from the manor's gates.

Only then, did she begin to break down.

"Why hello there, little girl." A scary voice boomed from behind her. "Pray tell thee, why art thou crying?"

Irina blinked and turned around slowly, horrified by the fact that someone had snuck into the manor and by the fact that this person was trying to speak in Shakespearean and failing miserably at it.

The man stood a few heads taller then Irina and his muscular was clad in an oriental red robe. His dirty blonde hair fell past his shoulders and in the night sky, Irina swore that his hair held some fake party glitter dust to make them shine the way they do.

So shocked was she at his sudden presence that Irina couldn't say anything past a mere, "b..b..b.b…ball…"

The man nodded before raising his hands up dramatically like a mad man. "I am Conqueror, the future God Emperor."

"So then, why are you here?" Irina questioned.

"I have been observing your life in the Honeywell household." Conqueror explained. "Let's just say that I am an old friend of Emma Honeywell and I have come to grant you the object you so desired for."

With a grand display of lights, Irina suddenly found herself holding onto a round, beach ball.

"…………But Mister Conqueror, this is not the ball that I wanted." Irina explained slowly after getting over her initial shock. "I was referring to the grand ball that the marquis was holding, you know? A party?"

Conqueror stared at her as if Irina just told him that she wanted to marry him. This went on for a good few minutes with Irina hugging the sparkly pink beach ball before he got the message.

"I see…….." Conqueror said. "Then fetch me a cat, a necklace, a lizard and a pumpkin."

Irina ran into the house (after giving the beach ball back to Conqueror) and snatched Toffee from his basket, a lizard from the kitchen, a pumpkin from the garden and a pretty blue stone necklace from Emmy's room.

Conqueror transformed the pumpkin into a huge carriage, the lizard into a handsome footman and Toffee into a fine sovani footman.

All this, with a wave of his hands.

He also gave Irina a pretty white dress made out of the finest oriental silk.

Just before Irina got into the carriage, Conqueror handed her the glowing blue necklace.

"This necklace contains the power of Marion Marshall." He said. "Use it if you feel threatened."

"Thank you so much, Mister Conqueror!" Irina hugged him.

"One more thing," Conqueror warned. "You must come back home before midnight for at the stroke of that very hour, everything will revert back to their original state."

With that, Irina set off to the ball.

The ball was a glamorous affair, filled with royalties and nobles from all corners of Elysion, Athlum, Celepaleis and even from Nagapur.

Never in Rush's life had he seen such a splendid event…….filled with such splendid food.

Much to Emma's disapproval, Emmy had stuffed himself with heaps of fine cheeses, wine, the whitest of bread and the most exquisite candies, right at the Marquis' table.

The Marquis on the other hand, was attempting to be as diplomatic as he could….whilst being clung onto by a horde of ladies and gentlemen who all wanted to marry him.

"Torgal, would you please escort these ladies and gentlemen to the dance floor?" David forced a smile at the sovani beside him.

"Interesting....." Torgal, the sovani, remarked. "Yes My lord."

"Man, I think that'll last for about a few minutes before a fresh horde comes over?" Rush smiled at the marquis, whom (much to Emma's disgust) had became good friends with the very moment Emmy had introduced him.

"If push comes to shove, I'd rather marry Emma then those………people there." David noted as he poured more wine for himself, hoping that he could get drunk faster and thus, be excused early from the ball.

Just then, a fair maiden stepped into the castle. She wasn't very tall and she wore a gorgeous white dress, absent of any fancy bodice. Her hair was in a warm shade of hazel brown and her smile was sincere and pure.

David was captivated by the fair maiden.

Rush swore that he had seen that face somewhere……but meh, right now, all that matters was his stomach.

Emmy was jealous. Emma was mad that David won't listen to her damn orders.

Torgal found it interesting (the other generals suspected that he was really tipsy), Pagus encouraged David to go and ask the young lady for a dance before the Duke of Nagapur steals her away to the dance floor and Blocter was too busy trying to do crowd control.

Standing up from his seat, David walked up to the fair maiden and asked if he could have that dance with her, to which she agreed, surprise that a man of such status would even bother to dance with her.

During the dance, David attempted to unravel the maiden's mystery. The maiden would neither shed light on her origins, where she resided nor would she even spare him the most basic of details such as her name and age.

The young marquis suspected that the maiden hailed from a lower class society from her manner of speech.

That was the only clue David ever got from the mysterious maiden as they waltz the night away.

David had found his bride.

He wanted her.

Just when he was about to get down on one knee to propose to her, the clock struck twelve and the maiden began to flail around comically.

"What's wrong?" David frowned, worried that this maiden might have some form of ADHD like Emmy and Rush.

"N..n..no! Nothing!" the maiden stammered before pushing past him.

David was stunned. It took him a few seconds before he ordered all the generals and the castle guards to chase after her.

The poor maiden dashed down the flight of stairs and raced for her carriage quicker then one can say "Great God Emperor".

David Nassau was left standing at the gates of his castle, with a blue necklace in hand, the only clue to the maiden's mysterious identity.

**oOo**

Irina managed to get home safely just in the nick of time, with a lazy fat maine coon cat in her arms and a lizard on her head.

Pretending as if she didn't know a single thing about the ball, Irina questioned Emma about how the night went, when the matriarch and her daughter returned, together with Rush.

To which, Emma scoffed and answered, "None of your business."

oOo

The very next day, the marquis set out with the necklace and his four generals.

He refused to return home until he found his mystery bride.

Door to door they went, demanding for every single, eligible maidens to try on the necklace. According to General Pagus, the necklace contained some of Marion Marshall's power and would glow when it's around its owner's neck.

At long last, David went to the very last house and it was the Honeywell manor.

Emmy claimed that it was her necklace but yet the necklace didn't even give the faintest of glow when it was placed around her neck.

Emma was about to whisk David away hurriedly when Irina raced upstairs with an armful of laundry.

David was surprised since he didn't know that Emma had a young maid working under her. Much to Emma's protest, David insisted for Irina to try the necklace on.

Just before the necklace went around Irina's neck, the evil, evil, evil, ebbbiil matriarch reached out for her sword and attempted to slay the young girl. Rush screamed and attempted to push Irina away but he was just too far!

Everyone froze in horror as Emma's sword drove towards Irina's neck.

Just then, something went in between the two ladies and whatever it was, it punched right through Emma's chest, penetrating through her metal armor.

Irina opened her eyes and saw that it was Mister Conqueror! Her Fairy God Moth- err…FATHER.

"You bastard…" Emma gasped as the Conqueror ripped the tablet out of the Matriarch's chest, to ensure that the old lady wouldn't summon the Valeria Heart to use it against them. "The tablet…why..did you.."

"You are no longer fit to command over the Valeria Heart," Conqueror stated. "You have become so corrupted that even your daughter is starting to follow in your twisted ways. As punishment, your daughter shall be stripped of her noble ranks and be made servant to Lady Irina Sykes."

"Pardon me? But I'm the Marquis here." David managed to point out, half torn between wanting to run to Emma, to restraining Emmy from tearing the house down, to proposing to Irina.

Conqueror turned towards the young Marquis menacingly. "Heed my words, Marquis. If you do not eliminate Lady Emma Honeywell II, your country shall suffer its downfall."

With that, he disappeared, taking the Valeria heart and the tablet along with him.

**oOo**

The young marquis never dreamed that his wedding day would be accompanied by the funeral of Emmy's mother.

Irina had accepted David's proposal wholeheartedly and Rush was made into a general of Athlum, alongside Emmy who still retained her ranks.

And her revenge.

Irina had always failed to catch that notorious glint in Emmy's grayish blue eyes every time she had her back turned.

After all, no one would ever give a second thought to a happy ending, no?

**The end.**


End file.
